Chapter 26 – The heavy sword of the condor, Part 3
Hearing the battle from the temple, Xiaoxiang Zi and others were terrified, but amongst the weapons crashing against each other outside was mixed the sound of Fawang’s five wheels ‘moaning’/whistling noise. Evidently Xiao Longnü and Fawang have started the action. All three of them thought: “With such a tough fighter available to act as the commanding general; if we fight by his side, we’ll surely win.” Yin Kexi retrieved his golden dragon whip, and bellowed: “After her comrades!” So they raced ahead to locate the racket. Xiaoxiang Zi raised his staff, and led a bunch of Mongolian soldiers to follow through. At this point everyone’s archenemy was Xiao Longnü. They’ve never had any Quanzhen Taoists thoughts in their minds.
Zhen Zhibing, Li Zhichang and others used this chance to untie each other’s ropes right after the Mongolian soldiers left. One after another they collected their swords and followed outside.
Xiaoxiang Zi and others arrived near the rear of Chongyang Palace where Cave of the Jade Void was situated. They could only see the wheels whirling in action and the sword qi in horizontal and vertical motion. Jinlun Fawang’s roar rumbled like the thunder. Xiao Longnü’s clothes were white as snow. The two were separated at around 10 feet, enabling them to engage in a long distance battle. All five elements of metal: gold, silver, copper, iron and lead were melded into large wheels, were twirling in flight. The vibration created a humming disturbance in everyone’s ears. Fawang’s previous wheels were lost in a number of fierce battles and not recovered. After losing them he tried to supplement with replacements. The size and weight were more or less equivalents of his earlier ones, but unfortunately the melded decorative patterns were missing. All there was were his mantra. In the process of utilizing them, his proficiency was very high.
Zhen Zhibing and Li Zhichang both saw the Cave of the Jade Void entrance blocked by a large rock. They weren’t sure of their teacher’s life and death situation. With deep anxiety, they hastened towards the cave entrance. With Da’erba’s metal pestle and Huo Du’s wielding of his steel fan, the groups of Taoists were repulsed in only several moves.
Wang Zhitan cried out: “Master…master, are you safe and sound in there?” Because of his apprehensive state, his voice carried a whimpering tone. Li Zhichang carefully thought: “On the basis of the five teachers’ profound cultivation, how could they let people fight like this outside the cave without doing anything? Their practice must have reached a critical stage and cannot afford to divert their attention and come out to deal with the foreign enemy. But with that call from Junior Wang, if they did happen to hear it, it will have thrown their minds into disorder.” He hurriedly spoke out: “Junior Wang, do not call out anymore. The five teachers cannot be subjected to any form of disturbance.” Wang Zhitan immediately realized his error, and helped a fallen Song Defang. He noticed his injuries weren’t light and tried to think of a way to help him out.
Xiaoxiang Zi and others were onlookers to the battle between Fawang and Xiao Longnü. They understood that although he was defending more than he was attacking, he still managed to return one move. The five wheels powers were strangely fierce and did not allow Xiao Longnü to get an inch closer to him. This defensive style was way more efficient than that of the other three fighters. The three showed admiration topped with envy, all thought: “That monk being conferred as the Mongolian’s No. 1 Guoshi (Protector) was no slander at all.” The three fighters had thought of helping out Fawang as a team, but in this sort of situation, their selfishness got the better of them. They did not wish to aid him to a victory.
But little did they realize that although Jinlun Fawang’s moves were fierce, in his heart he was actually complaining about his hardship repeatedly. Each of Xiao Longnü’s sword thrusts were differentiated from each other but still coordinated into an ingenious and unsurpassed way of fighting. Her left sword aimed at his front while her right sword was selecting a surprise attack from the back at the same time. It was a message to him that he had neither a way to retreat nor a way for him to advance. Every path that she chose struck at several places with both her swords, warning him to pay attention to mistakes, as her moves are difficult to defend against. Had he not reached the stage in his life where his internal force and external force were at their peaks, his eyes sensitive and his moves fast, and with his many variations of hard and soft, his body would’ve been hit by seventeen or eighteen sword strokes by now. All that was needed was a minor dip in his martial arts for that to happen. Actually, Xiao Longnü as one person delivering two types of sword techniques pales in comparison to her alliance with Yang Guo in terms of power, even though her moves were rapid. Not to mention that her real martial arts were a long way behind Fawang’s. Even Xiaoxiang Zi and others were stronger than her. But then again, once she stepped forward, her moves were as fast as a bolt of lightning. No one had ever seen anything like it. This allowed her fears to escape from inside of her. Fawang suffered from the “Pure Heart of the Jade Maiden Swordplay” the moment it appeared again in front of his eyes; all he thought about was how to protect himself and how to slip away free from injury. Xiao Longnü gained the upper hand because of the way she beat him to the punch.
By the time they reached fifty or sixty moves, Fawang looked to be at risk, he withdrew his golden wheel to shield himself and wasn’t confident enough to launch it again. After several more moves, this time the silver wheel was withdrawn to tighten his defense further. By the time, all five wheels were back with him, his fighting style was all-defensive just like Xiaoxiang Zi and others fought her before. The five wheels weight, size, colour and shape were all different from each other. Either it was sharp or more curved; they organized into five rings of light, which rolled all over the place around him.
Then suddenly one heard Xiao Longnü’s delicate shout: “Let’s do it!” This was followed by Fawang’s low voiced roar, echoing repeatedly. They both leaped vertically, and their moves were picking up pace. Xiaoxiang Zi and others did not hear their shouts clearly, not knowing an adjustment had already taken place. If Jinlun Fawang used his wheel’s fierce power to attack her head on, Xiao Longnü would struggle to withstand them. However since he was timid, he didn’t show the best of his qualities. Comparing his speed to Xiao Longnü, he’s bound to be in a disadvantageous position.
Then suddenly, Nimoxing felt something on his face, as if a miniature hidden weapon had struck him. In a moment of shock he stroked the area of contact, but found no wound on his face; instead there was blood on his palm. His mind was dumbfounded for a while, but then he spotted a drop of blood flying towards Yin Kexi. Now he was well aware that one person was injured in the fierce battle. In a short while, Xiao Longnü’s white garment was stained with over ten scattered splashes of blood. It was as if there were a few peach blossoms on a white silk fabric, which dazzled the eyes through its gay coloring. Nimoxing cheerfully spoke: “The demon girl has been injured!” Immediately after two flashes of the sword’s reflection, Fawang quietly moaned. Xiaoxiang Zi coldly butted in: “No, it’s the monk who got hurt!”
Xiaoxiang Zi’s initial judgment was right, the blood from Fawang’s injury sprayed over Xiao Longnü. He believed if Fawang was killed by her hands, then there’s no way they can stop her. For that reason he called out: “Brother Yin, Brother Xiao, let’s attack her together!” He wielded his metal snake and slowly pressed in behind Xiao Longnü. Xiaoxiang Zi and Yin Kexi also felt that they could not look on unconcerned, so they immediately split themselves left and right and approached them.
Fawang has been hit three times by her sword, but all were light injuries. But just when he’s in grave danger, backup arrived. He felt a sense of relief, and saw Xiaoxiang Zi and the other two weren’t at all opening up any sort of attack. They were rather using their weapons to protect themselves as they moved their positions to three sides steadily closing in on her. They knew that if the conflict is slightly prolonged, Xiao Longnü’s hourglass will run out.
In front of the Cave of the Jade Void, the pine lined paths showcased a fierce battle between four Wulin stranger guests gathering round a silk clothed young girl. The group of Mongolian soldiers and Quanzhen Taoists were motionless with fear, their faces resembled dying embers. They’ve never encountered such a violent struggle before in their lives!
The ear-deafening bumping sound of ‘peng’ shook the earth. Gravel was tossed out and the air was full of mist and dust. The dozen big stone blocks collapsed to one side in front of Cave of the Jade Void. Five Taoists that were inside slowly stepped out, they were the five Quanzhen Masters Qiu Chuji, Liu Chuxuan and the rest.
Zhen Zhibing, Li Zhichang and others were very happy and called out: “Master!” and rushed forward. Da’erba and Huo Du were shocked when they saw the explosive power that blew the entrance of the cave open; like it was blasted open with gunpowder. The two grabbed their weapons and rushed forward. Qiu Chuji and the other five masters moved aside a bit and then all of them raised their ten palms and pressed at the backs of those two. A firm press was delivered and the two were thrown four meters away.
Da’erba and Huo Du’s martial arts were of the same level as Hao Datong, though they were not as powerful as Qiu Chuji or Wang Chuyi. But they could not be defeated within one stance by them either.
The Five Masters were in retreat contemplating in the YuXu Cave [Cave of the Jade Void] to create a way to counter the “Jade Maiden Sword” technique; they were pondering intensively day and night. They felt that the martial arts displayed by Yang Guo and Xiao Longnü were the bane of the Quanzhen martial arts. It is impossible to surpass them with known stances; it was Qiu Chuji, who came up with an idea when he thought of the “Big Dipper Formation”. He said, “We cannot overcome them with stances and varieties, but if we combine our internal strength we can use power to make for variety.”
Hence, the five intensively thought of a way to merge their internal energies to overcome an enemy; every stance would be generated by the merged power of the five of them. They know that there are no exceptional talents within the third and fourth generation; the only way to survive is to unite the large number of disciples. Within two months time, they finally created “The Seven Star Assembly”. This technique was derived from the “Big Dipper Formation”, although it is called “The Seven Star Assembly”, it does not necessarily need seven persons to unite their internal strengths. Six, five, four or even three can perform this technique. When the Imperial Priest led the other warriors to seal the cave, the five masters were reaching the critical point of “The Seven Star Assembly” and could not be distracted. Even though they knew large numbers of foes have attacked, they had to ignore this for the time being. When they finally managed to merge their five internal energies perfectly, they blasted open the sealed cave. However, because of the urgent situation, this technique had only reached thirty or forty percent of its’ level of attainment. Even so, Da’erba and Huo Du were unable to cope with it and the Five Masters were triumphant with one strike.
Qiu Chuji and others now turned around and were observing the battle between Xiao Longnü, the Imperial Priest and others. After observing for a few moments, they looked at each other and looked very sad and depressed. They thought: “In vain…..everything was in vain. We never thought that the martial arts of the Ancient Tomb School would be this magnificent. We can never defeat her in this lifetime.”
The martial arts previously displayed by Yang Guo and Xiao Longnü were the blueprints for their ponderings and contemplation. But the incredible, fantastic swordplay of Xiao Longnü was too awesome. They could not even see what those stances were, so how could they think of a way to counter it?
The Imperial Priest and the other Mongolian warriors had higher martial arts than the Five Masters of Quanzhen. It was practically impossible for the Quanzhen School to even produce someone like them now.
Qiu Chuji and others thought: “If our late Master were still alive he would surely be superior to them; our Martial Uncle Zhou is probably also one level higher than these four men in the field of martial arts. Yet, when facing the combined forces of these four fighters, chances are high that even he will suffer defeat.”
The Five Masters were ashamed and depressed; they felt that Quanzhen was degrading with each generation. They could not carry on the legacy of their patriarch anymore. When faced with a great enemy it seems that the Quanzhen School has no leg to stand on anymore.
What they saw was that every move was brutal, every step made was critical. The more they watched the more worried they became and they weren’t eager to inquire of their disciples the reasons for this unforeseen event taking place in front of them.
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